Looking for a job? Here's my advice.

A few top tips for all the job hunters out there…

A couple of weeks ago I put up a post offering free careers advice to anyone who needed it, in order to better utilise my time on Furlough. Since then my inbox has gone bananas, brimming with questions from some really talented and bright people, all on the hunt for a new opportunity.

Whilst working my way through the messages, I found that many of your questions are similar and therefore require similar guidance. So I thought it a good idea to collate my generalist tips into a kind of Job Hunter ‘series’ of LinkedIn articles, which I'll post one-by-one, at regular intervals.

Before you read on, I’d like to give some context around who I am and why I believe myself to be qualified to offer such advice. So, hi, I’m Jessica. I’ve been recruiting for the last 7 years, mostly within Marketing. I’ve also touched on Data, as well as Business Support (e.g. HR & Finance) recruitment.

I started my career in a recruitment agency and then moved in-house, so I’ve seen the process from different perspectives. I was also on the job market myself fairly recently, having started my job as Talent Acquisition Lead at Havas only 4 short months ago, which has reminded me of how it feels to be the candidate, rather than the recruiter.

I'd like to think of myself as a knowledgeable, well rounded recruiter, but I ask you to bare a few things in mind whilst reading my articles…

• I haven’t recruited across a vast range of industries, and every recruiter/hiring manager/business looks for different things when they’re hiring. It’s for this very reason that I urge you to stay true to yourself during your job hunt process. Ultimately, you are the person best qualified to design your approach and your uniqueness is ultimately your greatest asset.
• It’s a tough market right now, and sadly, no amount of advice from me is going to change that. Having said that, information is power, and taking a considered approach will – at the very least – show that you’re a contender. 
• Following on from the above – rejection may come a little more often than it might have done previously. That doesn’t mean that you aren’t doing the right things, but make sure you’re asking for feedback wherever possible and then use this to continually refine your approach.

Now that we’ve got that out the way, I’ll get on with it.

This article is the first in my Job Hunter series, so I thought it seemed logical to focus on your individual, professional brand. I.E your CV, your (optional) cover note and your LinkedIn profile, first. These three things should work in unison, giving any recruiter a good base of knowledge around your background and career goals.

Let's start with CV Writing

You can play around with the order, but key things to include are your personal profile, employment history, education & qualifications, key skills and contact details. You can also include a bit about you (more formally known as hobbies & interests).

Below are some specific points for each segment.

Personal Profile

• Within your personal profile I’d like to learn about your key skills, your career drivers, at least one key achievement, what you want from your next move and a little bit about you. The ‘little bit about you’ could just be one line, summing up your hobbies/interests/passions, and you could even opt for this instead of adding a Hobbies & Interests segment at the bottom. As ‘our Graham’ famously said, the choice, is yours!

Employment History

• I’d like to see your company name, title held and EXACT dates of employment, written clearly at the top of each job role section.
• Personally, I like to see a one-two word explanation for why you left each role – e.g. redundancy, found other job, career progression – under/next to your job title. Especially if a role has been held for less than 12 months!
• Include your key achievements and learnings – they are a mark of your success and development and they are so often forgotten. It’s all well and good telling me what you’ve done, but prove to me that you did it to a high standard and achieved the desired results.

Education & Qualifications

• If you’re someone with no work experience then I’d be keen to learn a little more about your Education, so feel free to give me some detail. If you Graduated 2+ years ago, top level info (your course, your Uni, your dates and your grade) is all I need.
• If you are due to Graduate soon, please include your predicted grade.

Key Skills

• Everyone has key skills - please include them! One of mine, for example, would be LinkedIn Headhunting. I include this on my CV because it acts as two keywords which a recruiter may be scanning for when they're skimming my CV.

A bit about you/Hobbies & Interests

• As I said already, I like to incorporate this info into the personal profile, however if you choose to separate them out, steer away from the generic bullet pointed snoorfest – "I like reading, cooking and keeping fit" – which I see on every other CV. Give me something a bit more honest. Something which makes me want to meet you.

 Referees

• This info can sometimes be useful for HR later down the line, but to be honest, I feel it’s unnecessary at this early point in your application process. Usually the employer will just ask for them as and when they are required.

Contact Details

• Postcode/town, email address, contact number - these are important!! I’d recommend adding this info into your footer, to keep it looking neat.

This next bit is about the overall look and feel…

Aesthetic

• Keep your CV short and sweet (2 pages, max) and only go into detail when you’re describing relevant experience. Remember that the person reading your CV is probably reading a tonne of others, too, and they will be grateful for your succinct approach.
• Photos are outdated and often cheesy – get rid!
• On the whole, I’d say black and white CVs are just fine (unless you’re applying for an uber creative job, of course). However, if you’re keen to show a bit of creativity, I would consider a few things first…

1. Colour is great, but please just don’t make it too offensive to my eyes. Oh, and please, no red text! Too many negative connotations.
2. Icons are becoming more and more popular, but so often they are misshapen and pixilated. If you’re going to use them, make sure you size them properly using ‘Graphics Format’ on Word. If they look shoddy, take them off!
3. Coloured backgrounds can also be really nice, but not at the expense of me being able to read the text.

• Alongside spellchecking, I would ask someone to read it for you when you’re done, as a second pair of eyes is often good for spotting any little errors.

Now let's talk about Cover Notes

People often ask me if it’s worth writing one. Well, think of it like this - the purpose of a cover note is to offer the reader important information regarding your application, which is not already on your CV. Most of the time, this is centred around why the applicant is applying for a specific vacancy.

If you are a Senior Account Manager in a Marketing agency looking to step up into an Account Director role in another Marketing agency, I’m unlikely to have question marks around why you want to make that move. If you’re a Creative looking to move into a Client Services role, I need to understand a little more about why you want to make that change. Or perhaps you’re fresh out of School or Uni and looking to start a career in Data Science. In which case, you need to tell me why you think that Data Science is the right path for you, as otherwise, you could just be another applicant, aimlessly applying for every job they find.

So now that we’ve cleaned that up, if you do decide to write a cover note, here are my tips.

• Once again, it’s short and sweet that wins it for me. I simply don’t have time to read an essay.
• Please keep it relevant and offer me new information which is not on your CV.
• Tone of voice should be reflective of your personality, but also of the industry which you’re applying for. Marketing agencies are often relaxed and friendly in their approach to communication, however Financial Services and Law (for example) tend to have a more ‘professional’ approach, so bare that in mind. If you’re unsure how to play it (do I add in that joke about being obsessed with Drag Queens?), just have a read of the company website to get a feel for their style.
• Address it to the reader where possible, rather than just Madam or Sir. Don’t know the recruiters/hiring managers name? Have a look on LinkedIn! If I can see that you’ve done your homework and looked me up, I’ll see you as a committed candidate who is truly keen on the job I’m hiring for. (Your ‘People’ searches on LinkedIn are limited with a free account though, so bare that in mind).

Last but not least, LinkedIn

Every single recruiter in the UK (and probably the rest of the world) uses LinkedIn. It is the biggest source of applicants and information, so if you're job searching, it's vital to maintain your profile and stay active on there. Here are my top tips on getting it right...

• Make sure your profile is up to date and descriptive, even if you aren’t actively looking. Head-hunters will be searching for candidates on LinkedIn using a keyword search, so if your information is out of date, they won't be able to find you and you could miss out on some amazing opportunities!
• Your picture should be professional and suited to your desired industry. If it’s a marketing agency you’re going for, a picture of you in a suit and tie with a face like a slapped bum isn’t going to do you any favours.
• Ensure your employment dates are accurate. Small mistakes like this are a bad first impression and when there's a strong bank of candidates to choose from, things like this can become the deciding factor when it comes to shortlisting.
• Describe each of your job roles. You can just copy and paste what’s on your CV if you like, but I would try to condense it down to top line information. Remember - without any descriptions, you won’t appear in keyword searches.
• Add in any ‘extra-curricular’ activities which might tell me more about you. For example; charity work or sporting achievements, etc.
• Give it some personality! Your personal profile should summarise your career but also give me a flavour for who you are and what matters to you.
• Regularly share content with your network. This could be articles you are re-sharing, articles of your own, or just posts which drum up conversation. This way you will stay top of mind, and it will show people you’re credible and knowledgeable within your field. Try to keep it relevant, but the odd fun post is great too.
• Comment, like and share others posts. A large, active network is a great tool for job searching.

That's it for now - hopefully it's been helpful.

I'll be back to talk about managing recruiter relationships, very soon!

Over and out.

Jess